Several companies have submitted questionable gender pay gap data to the government, the Financial Times reports. Of 306 companies that have disclosed their salary data so far, 15 reported numbers that are “statistically improbable and therefore almost certainly inaccurate”.

These firms, which all have more than 250 employees, reported that they pay their male and female staff exactly the same – with both a mean and median gender pay gap of zero.

Experts questioned the results, explaining that it’s highly unusual for companies of that size to have identical median and mean pay gaps.

Following the FT investigation, one of the companies – Hugo Boss – revised its figures from 0% to a mean of 32.6% and a median of 76.5%.

Ryanair’s pilots are threatening to go on strike in the run up to Christmas.

In Italy, the budget airline’s pilots have already voted to strike for four hours on 15th December; now their colleagues in Dublin are voting on whether to follow suit.

Pilots in Portugal have also voted in favour of industrial action, which is part of a push for unionisation. Ryanair sent a memo to captains and first officers in Dublin warning that their pay and conditions may be affected if they chose to vote in favour of a strike.

Storm Caroline has hit the UK, disrupting travel and forcing schools to close.

Scotland has been worst hit by the storm, with gusts reaching 116mph at the summit of Cairn Gorm mountain in the highlands.

Amber warnings relating to strong winds, snow and ice have been issued for certain areas of Scotland, while slightly less serious yellow warnings have been applied to other regions in Scotland and large parts of the UK. Met Office meteorologist John West told The Guardian that power cuts may occur in Scotland and large waves are expected around the coast.

At the time of writing, the price is hovering around £11,426, which is a mindblowing 1,905% higher than the £570 recorded this time last year.

The new price milestone comes as it was revealed nearly $64m (£47.8m) in bitcoin was stolen by hackers from Slovenian cryptocurrency mining marketplace NiceHash. There have been a number of high-profile hacks in the digital currency’s rocky past: in 2014, some 850,000 bitcoins were stolen from the now defunct Mt Gox bitcoin exchange. Worth £336m at the time, the haul would be worth £10.1bn in today’s money. • Share your thoughts: #Bitcoin14000

Idea of the Day: Not all employee praise is created equal, says author Jeff Haden. “You’re really smart!” seems like a great idea, but it praises innate abilities rather than effort. “The result of those messages is a fixed mindset:

We start to assume we are what we are,” Haden notes, citing research from Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck.

“By praising effort, you help create an environment where employees feel anything is possible – all they have to do is keep trying.”
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